THE INCREASING INVOLVEMENT OF AAAS IN ADDRESSING THE HOUSING NEEDS AND HOMELESSNESS OF OLDER ADULTS

Abstract While services addressing the housing needs and homelessness of older adults are not a core service of the OAA, the Aging Network is adapting to the levels of growing housing insecurity facing older adults. The need for affordable and accessible housing has increased in recent years. In the 2019 National Survey of AAAs, 30% of agencies reported a desire for training and technical assistance on better addressing housing/homelessness issues; by 2022 that interest increased to 46% of agencies. Further, 81% of AAAs said that they are now providing one or more housing/homelessness programs and services. AAA involvement in housing and homeless programs and services may range from providing home modifications, supportive housing, or even owning senior housing. Community partnerships play a critical role in meeting the housing needs of older adults. This presentation shows how AAAs have adapted to address these needs, including programs, services, community partnerships, and advocacy efforts.


RESPONDING TO THE HEALTH CARE ENVIRONMENT: DEVELOPMENT OF CBO NETWORKS TO ADDRESS SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
Beth Blair 1 , Suzanne Kunkel 2 , Abbe Lackmeyer 2 , Robert Graham 2 , and Marisa Scala-Foley 1 , 1. USAging, Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 2. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, United States AAAs, with their wide array of community partnerships and ability to respond to local needs and context, are an important connection between social and health care.Recent research describes the impact of AAA services and partnerships on population health, and AAAs are increasingly contracting with health care systems and payers to provide a variety of supportive services that enable older adults to live at home and in the community.To better meet the needs of health care partners, and to maximize their service reach and impact, AAAs and other community-based organizations (CBOs) are increasingly forming networks to contract with health care entities.Data from the 2021 CBO-Health Care Contracting Survey shows that 44 percent of AAAs are part of a network that provides contracted services to health care entities, but little is known about how these networks are formed and sustained.Findings from a new qualitative study on CBO networks, which consisted of 23 semi-structured interviews with network leads (also known as community hubs) and member organizations, describe how AAAs and other CBOs are developing networks and contracting with health care entities.This session will share findings from the qualitative study to describe the opportunities and ongoing challenges of network participation.Networks allow CBOs to serve more people and contract with health care partners to provide integrated care, but ongoing challenges include lack of data infrastructure and financial viability for members that may have fewer clients to serve.This session will also discuss the policy implications of these findings.
Abstract citation ID: igad104.0842While services addressing the housing needs and homelessness of older adults are not a core service of the OAA, the Aging Network is adapting to the levels of growing housing insecurity facing older adults.The need for affordable and accessible housing has increased in recent years.In the 2019 National Survey of AAAs, 30% of agencies reported a desire for training and technical assistance on better addressing housing/homelessness issues; by 2022 that interest increased to 46% of agencies.

THE INCREASING INVOLVEMENT OF AAAS IN ADDRESSING THE HOUSING NEEDS AND HOMELESSNESS OF OLDER ADULTS
Further, 81% of AAAs said that they are now providing one or more housing/homelessness programs and services.AAA involvement in housing and homeless programs and services may range from providing home modifications, supportive housing, or even owning senior housing.Community partnerships play a critical role in meeting the housing needs of older adults.This presentation shows how AAAs have adapted to address these needs, including programs, services, community partnerships, and advocacy efforts.Originally established to support planning and services related to community-based supports, Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) are well-positioned to lead cutting edge innovations driven by local community needs and changing socio-environmental contexts.This presentation illustrates a partnership between the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging (COAAA) and the Age-Friendly Innovation Center at The Ohio State University focused on advancing researchinformed practice in response to the realities of aging in a warmer world.This project included three main phases.First, safety and emergency preparedness data were collected from individuals aged 50 and older living in central Ohio through a random sample survey (N=1417), revealing 25% of non-white residents (compared to 21% white) did not have or know they have 3-day emergency supplies, food, and medicine, and 84% of residents in urban areas did not have access to an alternative source of power in event of outages.Second, a community conversation identifying priorities and needs related to the rising number of extreme weather events was held with COAAA leadership, community organizations, and residents.Third, targeting locations of high density of older adults at highest risk, the last phase of this work focused on the development of a tool to reduce harm for older adults living in affordable housing in partnership with COAAA embedded Service Coordinators.This project illustrates how AAAs can partner with applied researchers to innovate and strengthen services within communities and build evidence to address emerging community needs across the aging network.

MULTIDIMENSIONAL AND INTERSECTIONAL APPROACHES TO ACCESSIBLE AND HEALTHY AGING IN DIVERSE POPULATIONS Chair: Catherine Garcia
Aging is a complex process that affects different individuals in different ways.To ensure that healthy aging is accessible for all individuals, it is crucial to consider the unique needs of diverse populations through multidimensional and intersectional approaches.Multidimensional approaches recognize that aging is a complex process and that many different factors shape how individuals experience it.Intersectional approaches to aging consider individuals' multiple identities and social locations, creating unique experiences and needs around aging.When these two approaches are combined, it is possible to create accessible and healthy aging for individuals from all backgrounds.The five presentations in this symposium center on two large and diverse racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. -Vietnamese and Puerto Rican older adults -groups underrepresented in studies of aging.Using data from the Vietnamese Aging and Care Survey (VACS), Miyawaki and colleagues examine the association between disability, chronic disease, and depression.The next set of presentations uses longitudinal data from the Puerto Rican Elderly Health Conditions Project (PREHCO).Quashie and colleagues explore whether neighborhood socioeconomic status moderates the relationship between living arrangements and cardiometabolic disease.Thompson and colleagues examine the relationship between hurricane stressors and cognition.Guinn and colleagues examine whether social support mediates the relationship between hurricane-related stressors and depression.Ballard and colleagues examine how hurricane-related stressors influence perceived stress.Overall, the results from these investigations show a need for authentic community and stakeholder engagement to develop, implement, and create sustainable interventions to promote healthy aging.

ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN DISABILITY, CHRONIC DISEASES, AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN VIETNAMESE OLDER ADULTS
Christina Miyawaki 1 , Joshua Garcia 1 , Luis Medina 1 , Kim Nguyen 1 , Oanh Meyer 2 , and Kyriakos Markides 3 , 1. University of Houston, Houston, Texas, United States, 2. University of California at Davis,Davis,California,United States,3. University of Texas Medical Branch,Galveston,Texas,United States After the fall of Saigon in 1975, several waves of Vietnamese immigrants/refugees migrated to the U.S. currently comprising 2.2 million individuals, the 4th-largest Asian-origin subgroup in the U.S. Despite the large number and their traumatic, adverse lifelong experiences, health research on this population is scarce.To fill this gap, we developed the Vietnamese Aging and Care Survey and collected health data on older Vietnamese in Houston, Texas, the 2nd-largest Vietnamese-populated metropolitan area in the nation.The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between their physical disability, chronic diseases, and depressive symptoms.Respondents (N=210) were 76 years old (mean), married (63%), and female (56%) with 8 years of education.They lived in the U.S. for 25 years (mean) and spoke Vietnamese only (88%) in multi-generation (80%) low-income households (91%, ≤$25K).They self-rated their health as fair/poor (80%) with ≥1 chronic condition (76%).Those with higher depressive symptoms were less likely to be married (p=0.004) and have more chronic diseases (p=0.004)compared to those without depressive symptoms.Regression analyses showed significant associations between arthritis (β=2.73),liver disease (β=6.24),ADL disability (β=0.72), and higher depressive symptoms.Limited control over their basic function (ADL disability) would restrict their daily lives, and mobility issues and pain (arthritis and liver disease) might impact them psychologically.While older Vietnamese may leverage their multi-generation